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Appalachian Echoes
Fools' Parade
“Dark violence and piebald absurdity share an uncertain border, and now and then some mythmaker on his day off, like Grubb, manages to write within this certainty. A fine book, written for the hell of it, which is a splendid reason.”—Time
Set in the Appalachian backcountry in the midst of the Great Depression, Fools’ Parade traces the adventures of three ex-convicts who become involved in a wild and woolly chase along the Ohio River.
Convicted murderer Mattie Appleyard has just served forty-seven years in Glory Penitentiary. His release puts him in possession of a check for $25,452.32—the result of his having salted away his meager earnings in the Prisoner’s Work-and-Hope Savings Plan of the local bank. With his friends Johnny Jesus and Lee Cottrill, he plans to open a general store that will compete with the company store in Stonecoal, West Virginia.
Unfortunately, banker Homer Grindstaff, prison guard Uncle Doc Council, and Sheriff Duane Ewing have no intention of allowing Mattie to realize his ambitions. Mattie’s efforts to cash his check set a deadly pursuit in motion and introduce the reader to a host of colorful characters and a vividly recreated regional and historical background. Good and evil meet head-on in this novel that is, by turns, warm and humorous, rousing and tumultuous.
The Davis Grubb (1919–1980) was the author of ten published novels, the most famous of which was Night of the Hunter. Both that book and Fools’ Parade, originally published in 1969, were made into motion pictures.
Set in the Appalachian backcountry in the midst of the Great Depression, Fools’ Parade traces the adventures of three ex-convicts who become involved in a wild and woolly chase along the Ohio River.
Convicted murderer Mattie Appleyard has just served forty-seven years in Glory Penitentiary. His release puts him in possession of a check for $25,452.32—the result of his having salted away his meager earnings in the Prisoner’s Work-and-Hope Savings Plan of the local bank. With his friends Johnny Jesus and Lee Cottrill, he plans to open a general store that will compete with the company store in Stonecoal, West Virginia.
Unfortunately, banker Homer Grindstaff, prison guard Uncle Doc Council, and Sheriff Duane Ewing have no intention of allowing Mattie to realize his ambitions. Mattie’s efforts to cash his check set a deadly pursuit in motion and introduce the reader to a host of colorful characters and a vividly recreated regional and historical background. Good and evil meet head-on in this novel that is, by turns, warm and humorous, rousing and tumultuous.
The Davis Grubb (1919–1980) was the author of ten published novels, the most famous of which was Night of the Hunter. Both that book and Fools’ Parade, originally published in 1969, were made into motion pictures.
332 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
4 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Davis Grubb
84 books55 followersFrom Wikipedia
Born in Moundsville, West Virginia, Grubb wanted to combine his creative skills as a painter with writing and as such attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, his color blindness was a handicap he could not overcome and he gave up on painting to dedicate himself to writing fiction. He did, however, make a number of drawings and sketches during the course of his career, some of which were incorporated into his writings.
In 1940, Grubb moved to New York City where he worked at NBC radio as a writer while using his free time to write short stories. In the mid 1940s he was successful in selling several short stories to major magazines and in the early 1950s he started writing a full length novel. Influenced by accounts of economic hardship by depression-era Americans that his mother had seen first hand as a social worker, Grubb produced a dark tale that mixed the plight of poor children and adults with that of the evil inflicted by others.
The Night of the Hunter became an instant bestseller and was voted a finalist for the 1955 National Book Award. That same year, the book was made into a motion picture that is now regarded as a classic. Deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Grubb went on to write a further nine novels and several collections of short stories. His 1969 novel Fools' Parade would also be made into a motion picture starring James Stewart. Some of Grubb's short stories were adapted for television by Alfred Hitchcock and by Rod Serling for his Night Gallery series.
Grubb died in New York City in 1980. His novel Ancient Lights was published posthumously in 1982, and St. Martins Press published 18 of his short stories in a book collection titled You Never Believe Me and Other Stories.
His longtime canine companion was a Lhasa Apso named Rowdy Charlie.
Born in Moundsville, West Virginia, Grubb wanted to combine his creative skills as a painter with writing and as such attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, his color blindness was a handicap he could not overcome and he gave up on painting to dedicate himself to writing fiction. He did, however, make a number of drawings and sketches during the course of his career, some of which were incorporated into his writings.
In 1940, Grubb moved to New York City where he worked at NBC radio as a writer while using his free time to write short stories. In the mid 1940s he was successful in selling several short stories to major magazines and in the early 1950s he started writing a full length novel. Influenced by accounts of economic hardship by depression-era Americans that his mother had seen first hand as a social worker, Grubb produced a dark tale that mixed the plight of poor children and adults with that of the evil inflicted by others.
The Night of the Hunter became an instant bestseller and was voted a finalist for the 1955 National Book Award. That same year, the book was made into a motion picture that is now regarded as a classic. Deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Grubb went on to write a further nine novels and several collections of short stories. His 1969 novel Fools' Parade would also be made into a motion picture starring James Stewart. Some of Grubb's short stories were adapted for television by Alfred Hitchcock and by Rod Serling for his Night Gallery series.
Grubb died in New York City in 1980. His novel Ancient Lights was published posthumously in 1982, and St. Martins Press published 18 of his short stories in a book collection titled You Never Believe Me and Other Stories.
His longtime canine companion was a Lhasa Apso named Rowdy Charlie.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 3, 2016
4 1/2-5 I'm making it a personal project to read 3-4 more by this author. First there was 'The Night of the Hunter', and now this great novel. I don't think Davis Grubb is ever going to let me down. *****I'm going to go so far as to compare it with another great book: 'The Clearing' by Tim Gautreaux. If anything FP is a little less violent than The Clearing, but the scenes often revolve around hijacked trains, river towns, evasion of the law, corrupt businessmen, and setting things right just on principle. It's a dandy story! I can't resist saying: "I love me some Grubb!"
October 26, 2023
An action-adventure novel with comic overtones. Three prisoners are released from the Glory jail in West Virginia. Mattie Appleyard has been working a long time while doing time. He gets a check for $25,452, and he and two friends set out on train for Stonecoal to open a general store. Lee and Johnny Jesus are younger and they look for Mattie to lead them. Uncle Doc Council, a wicked prison guard, has two henchmen, and they want to intercept the ex-cons and take the check. Grubb's novel got mixed reviews when it came out in 1969. Critics found it melodramatic and having stereotypes. Joyce Carol Oates said the characters were "monsters." But I thought the threesome heading south on the train were likable. And while Uncle Doc and the Sheriff Duane Ewing were stock figures, I contend the novel works as a whole. There's a lot of suspense and thrills. It was made into a movie, starring Jimmy Stewart as Mattie.
September 23, 2019
I haven't read a story that really explored this side of the Depression. It's about ex-cons trying to survive while corrupt bankers try to take their money away. What makes it interesting is how much everyone was willing to do whatever it takes just to survive.
Where this story loses points in it's reliance on sentimentality. What do we see as sentimental? Let's see: loveable old man protecting a young virgin boy in prison, a boy who loves a dog that is too ugly to love, prostitute with a heart of gold, and two of the ex-cons were really innocent. Anyway, if you can get past all these tropes there is a good story nonetheless.
Where this story loses points in it's reliance on sentimentality. What do we see as sentimental? Let's see: loveable old man protecting a young virgin boy in prison, a boy who loves a dog that is too ugly to love, prostitute with a heart of gold, and two of the ex-cons were really innocent. Anyway, if you can get past all these tropes there is a good story nonetheless.
December 17, 2016
Pretty great, if not a bit saccharine. It's a great bit of West Virginia nostalgia though, and the characters are fun. Plot is pretty generic. Read it, if you get a second.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews